Confessing the performance of the tour and turning the offensive
Defensive explanation of ‘private remarks’ at first
Turning hard as opposition attacks intensify
“False reporting, negative impact on public safety”
State government burden if strong confrontation continues
▲ President Yoon Seok-yeol is heading to the Oval Office following answering reporters’ questions at the lobby of the presidential office in Yongsan on the 26th, when he first went to work following his tour of the UK, US and Canada last week.
Reporter Park Ji-hwan
On the 26th, President Yoon Seok-yeol refuted the controversy surrounding his overseas trip last week and actively promoted diplomatic achievements and turned to the offensive. It is interpreted as a will to actively respond to critical public opinion and block the impact on the operation of the state even at the cost of opposition from the opposition.
President Yoon countered the so-called ‘profanity controversy’ at a New York event hosted by US President Joe Biden on his way to the Yongsan presidential office on the same day as “the report is not true.” This is interpreted as a remark that is in line with the ‘fake news eradication’ at the high-ranking party council meeting the day before, by Chief Secretary Kim Dae-gi, who defined the controversy as a subject of ‘fact checking’ rather than a political party.
Initially, the presidential office refuted the controversy with the logic of the president’s ‘private remarks’, but decided that such a defensive response gave the opposition an excuse to attack, and raised the level of response. There are also interpretations that President Yoon’s mention of the need to find out the truth is an internal judgment that there is no disadvantage in arguing with the facts regarding the remarks in question.
In particular, some parts of the presidential office are reminiscent of the ‘mad cow disease incident’ that shook the state in 2008, when the Lee Myung-bak (MB) administration was in the early stages of the Lee Myung-bak (MB) administration over the ‘profanity controversy’. Among the current presidential staff, there are quite a few people during the MB government, and many of them believe that the MB government took the MBC PD notebook’s reports of mad cow disease insignificant and caused great anger. Lee Jae-myung, deputy spokesperson for the presidential office, emphasized, “In a war without gunfire to maximize national interests, such as tour diplomacy, false reporting is a detrimental effect that directly affects the lives and safety of the people.”
In addition, the presidential office is analyzed to have decided that the achievements of this trip, such as the first speech at the UN General Assembly and sales diplomacy, should not be buried in political conflict. The meeting between the leaders of the United States and the Republic of Korea, which consisted of a ‘stand-up conversation’, was inevitable as President Biden’s New York schedule was shortened. The statement from the presidential office. Therefore, it is predicted that it will be difficult for President Yoon to express his regrets or reprimand for foreign affairs and security, which the opposition demands. A high-ranking official at the presidential office said, “Considering the crisis situation with President Biden facing the midterm elections and the Kishida Fumio government’s approval rating dropping to 20 percent, it seems that the US-Korea-Japan meeting was a good thing.”
However, concerns within the presidential office are likely to deepen in that a prolonged confrontation may put a burden on state affairs. Regarding the previous explanation of Kim Eun-hye, senior public relations officer, that ‘these × × people’ in the controversial remarks were referring to the National Assembly, a presidential office official said, “I did not point to the opposition party. She will have a chance to call on the opposition,” she said.
Reporter Ahn Seok
